Course Details

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Course Developer and Distribution Models
Course Name	Intermediate Spanish for Health Professions
Provider Name	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Course Discipline	Spanish
Review Funded By	OCEP
Review Date	November 14, 2005
Developer organizational status	The developer is a non-profit organization that develops and distributes online courses as part of its educational mission.
Distribution of the course	The course is distributed internally to the institution's own learners on campus, at a distance, or a blended model.The course materials are used in five different types of courses at UNC-Chapel Hill. The course is offered through UNC-Chapel Hill to the general public through the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education. The course materials are distributed nationally for use by other educational organizations through the publisher, Yale University Press (YUP). An on-line instructor's manual is also available through YUP. The course materials are currently being used by 33 institutions.
Licensing models	The developer does not currently license this course outside the institution's own learners and instructors.Yale University Press will provide a site license for the course materials upon request.
Scope and Scholarship
Audience and grade level	Lower division college curriculum.This course is designed for the intermediate learner of Spanish, usually the second year of college level language study. However, the course provider indicates that while the course is usually offered as part of the General College to freshmen and sophomores, upper division students (often in the nursing program) also take the course. In addition, professional and continuing education students take the course. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Breadth of coverage	The course content meets standard curriculum requirements for accepted higher education curriculum.The course materials are at an appropriate level for the audience. The authentic language used in the video clips is at normal native-speaker speed and includes structures that an intermediate level learner should be able to acquire.
Writing style and accuracy	Writing style and accuracy issues are addressed as follows: The writing style is engaging, clear and grade level appropriate for the intended audience. The writing and print is free of grammar, punctuation and typographical errors. The content of this course is engaging and the writing, even about grammatical topics, matches the level of the content well. The writing is accurate and speaks to the reader. It is direct and informal, which is an important attribute in materials designed for the online or distance student. Instructions and text designed to guide the student through the program is appropriately direct and clear.
Course orientation and syllabus	The following information is available to students at the beginning of the course. Some of the features are instructor, course, or institution specific (i.e., assessment policy, testing logistics, or institutional policies), and have been provided as samples/resources for the instructor. Course description Prerequisites Credit hours Course goals and outcomes Syllabus System check for computer system requirements and necessary plug-ins Assessment and grading policy Testing logistics Participation expectations Student responsibilities and academic integrity guidelines Features of this specific online course, such as how course is structured, navigation, media elements, simulations, etc. Technical support contact information Instructor contact information Textbook and other materials required for the course and how and where to obtain those materials The online description of the program is informative and the system checkis simple to use.
Learning objectives clearly stated	Learning objectives are addressed as follows: The course provides clearly defined and topic-appropriate learning objectives to begin each unit of study. There are no summaries of the learning objectives at the end of each unit of study. Learning objectives are classified into two categories: language and health. They are placed at the beginning of each unit and are available for review at any time from the unit home page. Objectives are all measurable, meaningful and place language learning in a realistic context. Focus is maintained on the objectives through the stages of each unit, although not always explicitly. There is no summary at the end of the unit, but this is not necessary as the objectives are always available for viewing and the assessments align well with them. ¡A su salud! Objectives
Exercises, projects, and activities	Exercises, projects, and activities provide effective learning experiences and are included as an integral component of the course.The course is made up of a series of language learning activities. Effective multimedia language courses focus on exposing students to the second language in manageable doses and giving many opportunities for self-assessed practice. This course seems to meet that criterion. Activities range from simple presentations of grammar and vocabulary to more interactive self-checking quizzes and writing or speaking tasks with model responses so that students can judge their work.
Additional text material required or optional	Textbooks, videos, CD/DVDs, readings, or articles packets are required and necessary content elements in the course.The workbook/textbook is designed to accompany the DVDs and online content as an integral part of the course.
Instructional philosophy	Instructional philosophies are addressed as follows: The course blends elements from multiple instructional philosophies including the constructivist approach, a linear presentation of the course content, and a drill and practice approach to learning in. The instructional philosophy incorporates methods to promote critical reasoning skills. The instructional philosophy incorporates immediate opportunities to use new information. The instructional philosophy reinforces learning through direct experience, by doing, acting, sensing, and feeling. Grammar and vocabulary are presented in a linear fashion and there are ample opportunities for immediate practice, sometimes through drills and sometimes through less structured writing or speaking tasks. There is a clear emphasis on listening to and reading authentic Spanish, which are key language skills only learned through experience. Similarly, writing and speaking are practiced through audio recording and topical writing tasks.
Rights of use and copyright associated with course content	The following rights of use and copyright issues apply to the course. All copyrights are cleared by the course developer and are noted as such on the developer's web site. Content accessed by embedded web links in the course adhere to existing copyright requirements for access and display, and this is insured by the developer. Users of the course may integrate the course content with existing online courses developed by the licensing institution. Course content and learning objects may be disassociated from the course and used by instructors in the classroom without restriction.
User Interface
Navigation	Navigation throughout the course is clearly marked, consistent, and thorough and allows a student to easily navigate through the content.A portion of the screen is dedicated to guiding the learner through the learning activities. Orientation screens appear before each new actvity and help the student know what to expect.
Course progress indicator for the student	Course progress indicators for students are addressed as follows: The course contains tools that allow the learners to track their progress and mastery of content through the course. Circle symbols are used in the software to indicate which activities have been started, are partially complete or are complete.
Placement of elements and presentation consistency	Elements are clearly organized and use a consistent format.The workbook and DVDs use a consistent and easily navigable structure. It was easy to know where to look for instructions, where to find media controls, and easy to get back and forth between the course map and the various activities.
Playback control of media and elements	Learners are provided user-friendly media controls giving them flexible and repeated access to media content.Video controls are consistently placed and easy to use. However, sometimes there are photos on screen that look like they should be media links (the pointer changes to a hand) but they are not. Nothing happens when you click on them.
Course Features and Media Values
Pedagogical features	Concept presentation consists of the following pedagogical features. Learning objectives Glossary (key terms to learn) Topic overview or explanation Real world application, example, or motivational scenario Context of the topic is set with other subtopics Worked problems, examples Text Graphics Audio Video Problems to work Case studies (topic specific) Discussion or thought questions Writing assignments Practice questions (immediate feedback) The course materials contain a good variety of media and learning activities. Videos serve as a type of worked linguistic problems, modeling correct language use and communication strategies in the medical context.
Media presentation effectively presents course concepts	The media presentation is engaging and relates directly to the topic coverage.The videos are a strong point of this course. It is professional and appealing in its visual and audio components. The speech is clear and natural, which is important in an intermediate level language course.
Text	Text elements for this course: Effectively present the topics and enhance the concepts. The text, from video captions to grammatical explanations, is well executed. Plenty of written examples are offered in the workbook to complement the audio portion of the course.
Video	Video elements used in this course: Relate well to the topics being presented and effectively enhance the concepts. Are engaging and high quality media and it is used effectively. Again, the effective, engaging, and high quality video is a strong point of this course.
Animation	Animation used in this course: Is not used in this course. The course relies more heavily on the video content.
Graphics	Graphic elements in this course: Relate well to the topics being presented and effectively enhance the concepts. Are engaging and high quality media and are used effectively. Most graphics are stills taken from the video and are of high quality.
Audio	Audio elements of the course: Relate well to the topics being presented and effectively enhance the concepts. Are engaging and high quality media and are used effectively. Audio is used in the video scenarios and in narration of video segments. It is all professionally executed.
Simulations and games	Simulations and games in this course: Are not used in this course.
Accommodates variety of media types and learning styles	The course utilizes a variety of media types to accommodate different learning styles.Language learning requires the use of all senses and this course presents information visually, auditorially and in writing. Captions are available on videos and narrations are included for those videos displaying text on screen.
Student interaction with the content	There are an appropriate number of interactive exercises, activities and projects made available to students. These are primarily self-testing activities which the instructor does not review.The emphasis of these course materials is on self-guided study. Therefore, there are few, if any, instructor graded activities. Open ended speaking and writing tasks include model responses so that students can check their own work.
Assessments and Support Materials
Assessments availability	Pre-assembled assessments are available within the course as a resource for instructors.There are quizzes and unit exams within the software. Additionally, there are sample exams available in the online instructor guide.
Assessment methods	The following assessment methods are provided: Post-assessments for each unit of study. Post-assessments for larger or cumulative units of study. Continuous assessments throughout the content presentation. Writing and/or topical paper assignments. Most assessments are included in the software and are computer graded. There are opportunities for student writing, which usually include a model response.
Assessment grading	The course provides auto-graded assessments designed for self-study that are not registered in the CMS grade book.
Grading rubrics provided	Grading rubrics are provided for both students and instructors.Students are given "possible" or model responses to open ended writing or speaking assignments.
Test item types	The following test item types are used in assessments for this course. Multiple choice. Matching. Short answer. Essay. Writing and/or topical paper assignments.
Feedback loop for test items	Feedback loops are provided through links that take the student to relevant course content.Often, the feedback in the video-based activities prompts the student by re-playing the portion of the clip that relates to the question. Students are also directly given answers to some questions and answers are in the back of the workbook for printed exercises.
Support materials for the instructor	The online instructor guide provides advice to instructors delivering the course in a number of modalities. It includes teaching tips, sample syllabi and sample exams. The scripts to all videos are also included in the guide. A su salud! Instructor Guide
Support materials for the student	There is technical support for students and online help files available within the software.
Communication Tools and Interaction
Course environment	The course is distributed through a combination of a CMS maintained by the educational institution and a proprietary course environment.Blackboard is used only as a course management system.
Communication tool access	Communication tool access is addressed as follows: The communication tools reside in the CMS. Some communication tools are separate applications, such as IM (Instant Messenger). During setup the software provides the opportunity to link to a CMS or course website for communication.
Content to utilize communication tools	When the course provides ready-to-use exercises, activities and assignments, use of the following communication tools in the CMS are required: Discussion.
Technology Requirements and Interoperability
Course format	This course is a hybrid of online delivery, CD/DVD and classroom attendance.This course could be delivered in many ways, including hybrid environments. The videos are available for online streaming for those with high-speed access, but the DVD's make the content available at higher quality to those who prefer to work off-line.
Operating systems and platforms supported	Operating systems supported by this course include: Microsoft Windows 2000 or newer. Microsoft Windows XP or newer. The documentation states specifically that Macintosh is not supported by the software.
Browsers supported	Browsers supported by this course include: Internet Explorer version 6.0 or later. Internet Explorer version 6.0 or later is required for the online version of the course, the DVD version does not have this requirement. The course developer indicates other browsers are also supported.
Server-side requirements	There are no server-side requirements for this course.
Required applications or plug-ins	The course requires the following applications or plug-ins: RealPlayer version 9 or later. Windows Media Player. The online version of the course requires RealPlayer for streaming video, while the DVD version uses Windows Media Player.
Learning object architecture or modular course elements	Course content is not developed and stored as learning objects or in a modular fashion.
Interoperability standards	Interoperability standards are utilized in the following ways. The course does not follow any established standards to insure interoperability with leading CMS. The documentations does not explicitly state the use of any interoperability standards.
Accessibility	The online version of the course contains narrations for videos that contain text. Captions are also available for all videos.
Developer Comments
General comments and differentiating features	A 96-minute telenovela (soap opera) was created, which serves as the centerpiece for the course. Twenty-six professional actors were hired, representing the diversity of Latin America.
Course effectiveness	Student retention rate is approximately 80%. We evaluate our students pre and post by administering a modified oral proficiency interview (this is the expected standard in the foreign language field). We know from these pre and post tests that all of our students demonstrate improvement.
Course structure	The course is designed: To be offered on a date-based, or calendar method. The course was originally designed as a semester long course, but it can be adapted to a self-paced model.
Additional services	No additional services are offered.
Test item availability	Test items are available that support the course content.
Hours of student work and study	The course does not note the amount of time a student is expected to spend to view the content presentation, complete assigned tasks and group assignments, and to complete all reading assignments.Students are told to expect to spend 3-5 hours per week total. The DVD spells out how long the interactive exercises will take to complete. Students are told to expect to spend at least 30 minutes per week in conversations with the instructor and partner.
Content authoring environment	The course uses the following software tools for the development of course content: Director MS Word

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Reference Citation: EduTools. (2010). OCEP: Course Comparison System. Retrieved July 30, 2010 from http://ocep.edutools.info/compare.jsp?pj=10&i=457